Do you always avoid cooking Indian food at home because you're not sure what half of the ingredients are? Let IndianRecipe4living help demystify Indian ingredients so that you can have a fabulous curry, chutney or chai any day of the week!

Ajowan or Ajwain (Lovage): Ajowan is a plant native to India. It's seeds provide a sharp thyme-like aroma and flavor. Ajowan is primarily used in Savory Indian dishes such as snacks, pastries, vegetables and breads. Use these seeds in moderation as the flavor is quite strong.

Amchur or Amchoor: Amchur is a unique Indian spice created by powdering dried green (unripe) mango flesh. It is often used in marinades and chutneys.

Anardana (Pomegranate Seed): Andardana are the sundried seeds of the pomegranate fruit. It is used as a spice primarily in Northwest part of India. These seeds provide flavor to many common dishes like vegetable curries and samosas.

Asafoetida (Heeng or Hing): Asafoetida comes from a sap extracted from the root of the Ferula Assafoetida plant. Like Garlic, it has a strong smell and is used in many vegetarian dishes to enhance the flavor and aroma.

Tej Patta (Bay Leaf): The tej patta is a dried aromatic leave from a cinnamon tree or malabar leaf. It has a subtle aroma that is similar to cinnamon bark and milder in flavor. It is used to add sweet flavors to curries, rice and stews. The Indian bay leaf is not the same thing as the European bay leaf.

Cardamom (Elaichi): Cardamom seeds have distinctly sweet but slightly lemon-like flavor. Cardamoms come in green, black and white, although Indian cooking usually only uses black and green. Cardamoms are essential parts of spice mixtures like garam masala.

Celery Seed (Radhuni): Radhuni is also called wild celery.  It's a very strong spice with a smell similar to parsley with the taste of celery.

Chat (chaat) Masala: Chat masala is an Indian spice blend, also called a masala. It typically consists of dried mango powder, cumin, coriander, dried ginger, salt, black pepper, asafoetida and chili powder. It has a pungent almost egg-like smell and tastes both sweet and sour. Chat masala is used to flavor most popular Indian fast foods.

Coriander (Dhania): Coriander seeds come from the coriander plant. The seeds can be used whole or ground. The ground form often comprises spice blends like garam masala. Ground coriander seeds lose their flavor fast, so be sure to store them in an airtight container.

Cinnamon (Dal Chini): Cinnamon is tree bark obtained from a plant native to Sri Lanka.

Cloves (Laung): Cloves are a dried bud that are essential to many curry powders. Cloves have a sweet, but astringent, flavor and an aromatic scent. Cloves are used in many Indian dishes like rice and sauces. They are sometimes taken after a meal to help freshen breath.

Cumin (Jeera or Jira): Cumin is typically used ground or whole in any curry dish. It is definitely one of the most important Indian spices. The seeds have a bitter and nutty taste and a powerful aroma that many people associate with Indian food.

Fenugreek (Methi): Fenugreek seeds provide a tangy flavor and a powerful curry scent to many vegetable and lentil dishes. These seeds are always roasted before they're used.  The lighter the roast the mellower the flavor; the darker the roast the more bitter the flavor.

Garam Masala: Garam masala literally means "hot spice" and is a mixture of spices used throughout India. The mixture is added in small quantities to food because it has a very powerful flavor that can easily take over a dish. Typical spices include: cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns and fenugreek seeds.

Ghee: Ghee is also called Indian clarified butter. It is clarified without any solid milk particles or water. It is used daily to add flavor to many Indian dishes. Traditionally, ghee is made from from butter churned out of Indian yogurt (curd). It is boiled and stirred constantly until all of the water is evaporated. Then, it is further heated to get a pleasant flavor, slightly cooled and filtered through muslin to remove sediment.

Kali Mirch: Kali mirch is another name for Black peppercorns, which are most often used whole.

Mustard Oil (Sarson Ka Tel): mustard oil is extracted from mustard seeds. It has a unique strong flavor that many consider pungent. Mustard oil is frequently used in Bengali cooking.  To reduce the intense flavor of the oil, it is often heated until smoking point before cooking.

Mustard Seed (Rai and Sarson): There are two types of mustard seed commonly used in India - black mustard seed (Rai) and yellow mustard seed (sarson). South Indian cuisine generally uses black mustard seed while Bengali cuisine typically uses yellow mustard seed. The black seeds are used in garam masala, dal, achar and other vegetarian dishes; the yellow seeds are used with vegetable curries or fish.

Kalo Jira (Nigella Seed): These seeds are known as Kalonji in India. They are often called onion seeds, although they have no relation to the onion plant. They provide a nutty, bitter flavor similar to oregano. These seeds are an integral part of the East Indian Spice mix panch phoran.

Panch Phoran: Panch phoran literally translates to five fried. It is a blend of five whole spice seeds and is very popular in Eastern India. Usually the five spices are fried in oil and then added to vegetables or dal. The five spices are fenugreek, nigella seed, black mustard seed, fennel seed and celery or cumin seed.

Poppadoms or Papad: Poppadoms are thin Indian crispy wafers that are both salty and spicy. They are served as an appetizer, snack or side dish to a meal. It can be served with several types of dipping sauces and condiments.

Dried Red Chili (Lal Mirch): Dried red chili is added to a dish to make it extra spicy. The chili can ground up or used whole.

Saffron (Kesar): Saffron is the world's most expensive spice by weight. It comes from the inside of the flower of the saffron Crocus plant. The reddish dark orange color of the spice gives food a bright yellow color with a subtle aroma and flavor. Saffron is used in many Indian rice dishes and desserts.

Sambhar Masala (Sambaar Powder): Sambhar masala is a classic spice blend used commonly in South Indian cooking. It's used often in cooking lentils and mixed vegetables. Some common spices included in this blend are turmeric, coriander, cayenne, fenugreek and cumin.

Saunf (Fennel Seed): Saunf has a sweet menthol-like flavor that also tastes similar to anise. Saunf is integral part of East Indian cooking, especially the spice blend, panch phoran.

Tamarind (Imli): Tamarind fruit is used for its bitter-sweet flavor. Tamarind is especially popular in South Indian cuisine and can be found in Indian grocery stores. It's used in many chutneys and a multitude of other condiments.

Turmeric (Haldi): Turmeric is similar to ginger, but it is boiled, dried and used in powder form. Turmeric adds intense yellow color and a woody flavor and scent to dishes. Almost all Indian vegetable and meat dishes use turmeric in some form.